Bank Heists and Ice Cream
by ArmorOfDay
Summary: Flash goes from stopping a bank robbery to arguing over ice cream flavors. (Art trade between me and a writer called Wachey.)


Barry entered the apartment, kicking his shoes off by the door. He set the shopping bag he was carrying on the kitchen counter and pulled out two tubs of ice cream. Getting out a pair of bowls and spoons, he filled them both from a different tub before putting the tubs into the freezer. He then picked up the bowls and headed into the bedroom.

"I brought you something to cheer you up," he said.

Len, who had been sitting back on the bed reading, looked up as he entered, a pair of reading glasses sliding down his nose a bit. Barry thought it made him look unfairly hot, though he winced a bit at the sight of the dark bruise on the other man's cheek and the bandage on his forehead. He knew there were more bruises underneath the clothing.

"Something to cheer me up, hm?" Len said with a slight drawl. "And what would that be, I wonder?"

"I brought you your old man ice cream," Barry said, handing him one of the bowl.

"Butter pecan is not old man ice cream," Len said automatically. "It's just not a kiddie flavor like yours is, judging from the look of that pink pile of sugar overload in your bowl."

Barry pouted at him. "Hey! Bubblegum with sprinkles is a great flavor!"

"Whatever you say, Scarlet," Len replied, shifting a bit so he could eat his ice cream and attempting to hide a wince of pain from the movement. He would have succeeded with anyone else.

Barry couldn't help but feel guilty at that. Logically he knew what had happened wasn't his fault, but he still felt he should have done something different to prevent it from happening in the first place.

It had started out like any other day – wake up, eat breakfast, get to work just in time to avoid being yelled at by Captain Singh, do his job. After his shift was over, Barry had gotten an alert that the Rogues were robbing a bank downtown. He zipped over to Star Labs to grab his suit and was at the scene in seconds.

He would never say it out loud, but Flash actually enjoyed tussles with the Rogues. They never tried to hurt innocent people, thanks to the deal he had with Cold, and they weren't out for wanton destruction. It made things so much easier. Trading banter with Cold was always fun as well, especially since he knew the man wouldn't actually hurt him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Flash arrived at Central City First National Bank to find that the Rogues had already made it in and out of the vault. They were walking out of the bank each carrying several bags that were no doubt full of cash. It was just Captain Cold, Heatwave, and Pied Piper instead of the entire crew today and there was no getaway car in sight. Flash was willing to bet that Golden Glider and Peek-A-Boo had been along for the heist and left first with the choice cuts with Boo's teleporting power. He was also willing to bet that Cold had likely triggered the alarm on purpose after the girls had left just so Flash would show up. The man loved to make a show.

"A straight-out bank robbery? Seems more Mardon's style than yours, Cold," Flash called out. "I thought you liked a challenge."

Cold smirked and held up the bag he was carrying in one hand. "What can I say? I needed rent money."

He then shot his cold gun at the superhero, missing intentionally though one would have to be looking very closely to realize it. Heatwave and Piper were also shooting, trying to avoid blasting each other. Windows and glass doors shattered from Piper's sonic bursts, making Flash glad that it was the middle of the workday and the street was empty. The only people around were the ones who worked in the bank and other businesses nearby; and they were smart enough to stay well away from the scuffle.

Flash ducked around a blast from the heat gun, feeling the flames lick at his suit as it went by. He darted forward and slammed into Heatwave, knocking him down and snatching his gun away. The larger man grunted in pain as he collided with the concrete. Flash checked to make sure he hadn't hit his head before he was tossing the flamethrower far enough away to take it out of the fight and turning his attention to the other two.

Cold had his usual smirk on his face, though the way his eyes briefly glanced over at the semi-conscious Heatwave showed his concern. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed, but Barry had gotten used to reading Len's micro-expressions.

He had gotten used to reading Len's movements too, dodging left to avoid the whirlwind of ice as Cold raised his gun and fired. Another burst from Piper had Flash ducking behind a car with his arms over his face to protect his eyes from the shattering glass.

'Note to self, get Cisco to outfit the suit with protective lenses,' he thought.

Flash reached up to brush the shards off his head and shoulders and then took off again. He tried to circle around them but Cold had had too much practice reading the trail of lightning to predict his movements. The road promptly went slick with ice and Flash began pinwheeling his arms to from falling, his speed turned from assent to handicap as he slipped uncontrollably. Cold kept firing to continue the makeshift Slip-N-Slide down the asphalt.

Which turned out to be a mistake. While Cold was meticulous to a fault, Piper had gotten too caught up in the adrenaline of the fight and had forgotten to watch out for his teammate's position. Stepping forward to take aim at the speedster, the brunette slipped and lost his balance on the icy road, landing hard. The sonic burst went wide and missed Flash utterly.

Cold wasn't so lucky. The force of the blast caught him full in the chest and knocked him backwards into a brick wall. He slumped face-first onto the ground, unmoving.

"Len!" Barry yelled in alarm, rushing over to him. He turned the older man over, biting his lip at the sight of the blood on his face.

Cold groaned in pain, blinking up at Flash with dazed eyes. "Sis' when do you 'ave a twin, Scarlet?" he said groggily before proceeding to pass out.

Flash looked over to where Heatwave and Piper were slowly climbing to their feet, a little banged up but otherwise uninjured. Heatwave glared at him in anger, but Flash could detect the concern for his friend in his eyes.

"I'm taking Len to Star Labs," he told the large man. "I'll let you know how he is."

With that, he carefully picked Len up and ran right to the labs. He commed his team to let them know to get the medbay ready. Flash hoped that Caitlin would be able to treat Len without any trouble. Head injuries were tricky, but he couldn't take Len to a hospital. Not without the man getting arrested.

Screeching to a stop in the Cortex, Flash hurried into the medbay and gently laid Len onto the berth. Caitlin was already there, frowning at them but too professional to say anything for now. She quickly wiped away the blood and checked his head wound.

"He's seeing double," Barry said, pushing his cowl back.

"No pupil response either, so it's most likely a concussion," Caitlin replied as she brought over the small CT machine. "You'll need to make sure he gets plenty of rest. And if his symptoms get worse, you may have to take him to a hospital."

Barry nodded, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Len groaned, blinking up at them. "Why's everything spinning?"

"You have a head injury," Caitlin told him. "You also have bruised ribs and several contusions."

"That would explain why it's hard to breathe," Len muttered, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up.

"Luckily, you don't have any broken bones or internal bleeding," she continued. "I'll get you something for the pain. You'll need to take it easy for a few weeks, but there's no reason you can't go home today. Although, I would prefer it if you had someone with you just in case."

"No worries on that front, Doc," Len drawled. "I doubt my roommate will let me out of his sight."

"I'll take him home, Caitlin," Barry said. She nodded in response and got the bottle of painkillers.

Barry picked Len up and ran over to their apartment, gently setting him down on the bed. "Roommate? Is that what I've been reduced to?" he asked with a small grin.

"Figured you wouldn't want the good doctor to know just yet," Len said, holding his pounding head. "And might I add, ow."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Scarlet? You ok?" Len asked softly, drawing Barry's attention back to the present.

"H-huh? Of course I'm ok. Why would you ask that?"

"Because I've already finished my ice cream and you haven't even touched yours."

Barry blinked in surprise, looking down at the bowl of half-melted ice cream. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't taken a single bite in all the time they had been sitting there. He just felt too guilty.

As if knowing what he was thinking, one of Len's hands reached over to take his own. "It wasn't your fault, Barry," he said, using his real name for once. "It was an accident and I'll be fine."

"I know, I just hate seeing you hurt. I feel like I should have been able to stop it," Barry said morosely.

"You heroes and your guilt complexes," Len said, chuckling at the pout it got him. "Seriously, I'm fine. Stop overthinking things and eat your kiddie ice cream before it melts completely."

"It's not kiddie," Barry said automatically before speed-eating the contents of the bowl and standing up. "I'm going to get another bowl. And I'll get you more butter pecan…. Old man."

He laughed as he ducked the pillow Len threw at him.


End file.
